Contagious
by The Poisoned Quill
Summary: Tanya's having a hard time in St. Mungo's but when Ron comes with an odd bite, she becomes the only one who can help him. As things go wrong with his treatment, they find there is more than one way to save someone & He's not the only one who needs saving
1. Chapter 1

It was dark. She paced across the floor of the small apartment. Her blonde hair shimmered in the moonlight as she refused to light a fire. She didn't want to wake them. They didn't need to worry. She just had some things she needed to think through. Then again, Melinda wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind.

It'd been so great. She'd been happy only a week ago. Hermione and Draco had gotten married on a weekend in April, and would be going on a honeymoon never. They'd claimed not to need one, though she was sure it was because they were both still uneasy about going away and leaving her. A month later they were still a content little family.

And she'd gotten some new friends. Not that it had been a problem in the first place, but it had become necessary. She'd been attacked by a small group of hardcore Slytherins. They'd gotten expelled but fearing that others would be encouraged to do likewise, McGonagall switched her to Griffindor. They were kinder than she'd expected, had a right to expect. It'd been assumed that they'd completely ignore her, maybe even look down on her. But they'd welcomed her. In fact, they welcomed her friends Timothy and Bailey.

This thing she had with David was great, sort of, but she had no idea what it was anymore. They hung out occasionally, last Saturday they'd had a picnic on the grass with sweets they'd splurged on during the last trip to Hogsmeade. But it wasn't the same. His eyes didn't light up when he laughed anymore and he never seemed to have much to say.

She'd been blaming it on the pressure. She was still willing to place the blame there. He was, after all, a seventh year. She knew he spent the majority of his time studying for the N.E.W.T.s. It was a scary thought, your future depending on how well you did on a test. But it didn't change the fact that he was pulling away inch by inch, but she had no clue how to catch him before he was really gone. Because today was it. The tests were yesterday and the seventh year's ceremony was today. Today David would get on the train with his family and she had no concept of whether or not she was ever see him again.

So why wasn't she crying, that was what had her pacing. Why wasn't she begging him to tell her that what they had wouldn't go away. Didn't she love him? No, she could answer that now after wearing a trail in the floor for the last hour. She liked him, a lot. The kind of like that could one day lead to love. But when it came down to it, she didn't love him. She didn't love him enough to embarrass them both with unnecessary and useless tears.

The sun was starting to come up. She dressed nicely, waited for Hermione and Draco. She'd said she'd go, so she'd go.

* * *

The Great Hall had been transformed once again. A huge platform stood where the teacher's table should have been. In one of the rooms to the side, she knew the seventh years waited anxiously. They'd sit in there for a little while yet, until McGonagall was ready. Chairs filled the remaining hall, parents sat around the outer edges. But the chairs in the center sat empty, for the graduating year. The choir, still led by dear Professor Flitwick, entertained the waiting guests.

The teachers sat on the platform, and so did she. She'd been asked, by McGonagall only an hour ago, to award two people with a medal. It wasn't the first time she'd seen such a medal as the ones she held in hands. Hermione had one on her wall, so did Harry and Ginny (actually they had two but Harry had refused to let Ginny hang his next to hers), and she imagined Ron did too. It'd been an extraordinary exception to award five the award in the year Harry, Hermione, and Ron would have graduated. They'd awarded one to Neville and Luna, as well. Ginny had waited another year, until she graduated to get hers. They had been given because of brave things they'd done, for all that they'd done during the second war.

These, well these were for bravery too, for two who held their own in the potions room. It seemed like ages ago that she was hiding out at the Weasley's and her mother strolled in and took an entire class hostage.

Tanya Lily had been allowed to leave. Bellatrix had underestimated her spine, believing that she'd run or keep her mouth shut in fear. She'd kept her cool up until the end and got help. Mel couldn't have done it. Maybe that was the definition of bravery, doing what was right despite how scared you are. Did that make Mel a coward? She didn't know. But it made Tanya a hero.

And David, the other hero. She'd heard the retelling more times than she cared to remember. It was stupid of him, shouldn't have attacked a crazy lady when her wand was jammed against his throat. So he'd earned it for his stupidity.

Others had earned the Extraordinary Wizard award for other reasons of course. Kindness, intelligence, what ever they did to stick out in the minds of those around them. Two students are chosen by the teachers and students every year to receive the award. It was the high honor of the school and opened more doors than the receiving student could imagine.

The choir's song changed, the alma mater. The doors on either side of the platform opened and, almost mournfully, the seventh years filed in to the empty seats. David's eyes swept the stage casually as he sat, froze when he saw Mel. He looked confused, as he should. The award was given out by students, this much was no surprise to him, but he hadn't expected it to be Mel. They didn't even know who would be receiving the award.

She just shrugged, dropped her gaze. She was going to be sick. She'd been wrong, she could put it off on lack of sleep that she'd misjudged her own emotions. She did love him and she was going to die when he left. But she couldn't stop it from happening, even if she had the heart to try. She wasn't going to make him feel bad for doing so well.

She did her best to pay attention to McGonagall's speech. It was difficult, she was aware that there were two sets of eyes on her, that they never left her face.

When she looked out and acknowledged Tanya's gaze, she smiled just a little. She had become one of her closest friends, but she hadn't been positive she'd be here.

She'd started her internship a month ago, and she'd left without regret. Mel understood, this was what she wanted and nothing would stop her. Still, it was hard not to miss her presence. She didn't sit in the common room, laughing or perusing some book. And she wasn't the only one. There were others who looked curiously at the couch and and tried to figure out why it looked so different. And there were even others who knew but kept their mouths shut, because she'd never let them get close enough to care.

"Now, as some of you might know, we have an award for the top two students of the class. It has nothing to do with grades or results on tests, but on who the people of this school believe to be the best. So, to present the award, here's Melinda Granger of the House of Griffindor and Slytherin." McGonagall stepped away from the podium, looked at Mel.

As she looked out at the many face of people she knew, and people she didn't, she knew exactly what she was supposed to say. "This award means so much more than just that a student is courageous, smart, popular, or special. It means that this school, students and faculty, stand behind these fine men and women. No matter what reason had caused them to receive this, the Extraordinary Wizard award demands respect and it demands loyalty. That is what they take with them, even those who shall not receive the award. Demand it anyways, and you shall receive. So, without further ado, Miss Tanya Lily of the house of Griffindor and Mr. David Tyler of the house of Ravenclaw."

Both fumbled as they got out of their seats, exchanged looks. Mel just kept smiling as they joined her on the platform. With exaggerated honor, she placed the first medal over Tanya's head. "Go with our blessings and respect." she turned to David and dropped her voice so that the spell McGonagall had cast wouldn't pick it up and project it to everyone. "I am so proud of everything you are, David, and there's something you have the right to know before you get on that train. Then you're going to get on the train anyway, but it needs to be said." She placed the medal around his neck. As the room filled with polite applause. "I love you."

The terrified shock on his face hurt her more than any goodbye ever could. So she stepped back. "See you around, hotshot." And took her spot between Hermione and Draco so that the ceremony could proceed.

Afterward, she went around to the Griffindor section, hugged Tanya the moment she found her. "I'm really going to miss you." She smiled a little. " You have to promise you'll write."

"I promise." Tanya wasn't sure what she'd do, out on her own in the big bad hospital. But when Mel tensed up, she didn't need to be told David had come up behind her. At least for now, while she was here for the couple of minutes, she could be the friend her friend needed. "Come on." She gripped Mel's shoulder as she walked. Mel had said her goodbyes already, he didn't need to upset her. "We'll go find your parents." She wouldn't be getting on the train anyhow.

"Mel." David grabbed her arm, looked at her with an unsteady gaze. She wanted to tell him it would be alright, that it had to be. But it wasn't going to be. Still, he stared at her. "Mel, I..."

"Goodbye, David." She could feel the tears fill her eyes but kept her voice calm. "Find your parents and get on the train."

Tanya pulled her along, and when they found Draco and Hermione, they were talking to Harry and Ron. "Hey." Mel smiled, felt Hermione's hand on her shoulder. "What's going on?"

"Just being cautious." Ron looked away from Hermione to make a joke about worrying too much, but stopped dead when he saw Tanya. Instead, he smiled warmly. "Hey, congratulations."

The heat rose to her cheeks as she mumbled her thank. She turned to Mel, gave her a quick hug. "I'm on duty in a little more than a half an hour and I've still got to get down to Hogsmeade. Ergo, I have to run, like now, if I intend to not get marked for being late."

"Go." Mel laughed. "Save lives."

Tanya hugged her one last time. "Bye." And she was taking off.

Ron watched her with concerned eyes, standing in place as she dodged people in order to leave. Hermione smiled at him, holding back the laugh that dared to escape. "Go on, then. Make sure she gets there in one piece if she worries you that much."

"What?" Ron stiffened, did his best to look insulted. "I'm not worried about _her._ I'm concerned she'll kill some innocent bystander in her mad break for it."

Hermione's smile grew just a little bit bigger. "Oh, I believe you."

"Shut up."


	2. The Coffee

Nurse Lily, that was what some of the more permanent residents called her. She had explained more than a hundred times that she was simply an intern but it never fazed them in the slightest. Not that she minded, it was a nice title that would earn her respect as she worked her way up to doctor. She wanted to be the best of the best, and she wasn't about to give up now.

It'd been a few months since she'd graduated, and ever since, it'd been one long battle. Her supervisor hated her, a big burly man with poor hygiene and even worse communication skills. He made his opinion known that he didn't like female doctors, and wound up shoving the worst jobs on her. After the first month, she'd requested a transfer to a different cluster. After all, there were five clusters on her floor, it should have been possible. But it had been denied.

Miffed, she got in the elevator, sore from scrubbing down bedpans. He stepped in next to her, waited until they'd started down before stopping the elevator. She reached to start it again, but he was faster. Her back was shoved against the wall, his hands groping her. His breath smelled like whiskey and she knew he had been drinking on the job again. She recognized a dangerous man when she saw one, fought with everything she had as he shoved his tongue in her mouth. Her nails scraped against his neck, his arms, leaving gashes and welts in his skin. She bit his lips and his tongue. But everything she did only seemed to excite him more. When his hand slipped under the waistband of her scrubs, his teeth grazed over the base of her throat, she screamed.

Her hands came up, shoving his face away as her legs pushed. His balance was off, he fell and smacked his head on the railing that wound through the entire elevator. She kicked his head, only once, just to make sure he couldn't go anywhere. The elevator jerked to life before she could do anything, hurriedly, she did her best to fix her appearance, but she knew her makeup was running. Tears were not unexpected, as she was aware. People would know, the moment she stepped out of the elevator, and she didn't care.

There was large gasp, not all from one person, as she stepped out. Some of the nurses and a few interns were there, and standing in the middle of them was the doctor she'd spoken to about a transfer. His was the head cluster, the one everyone longs to be a part of, they got to help diagnose and cure. While most of the other were left on janitorial duties. Women fluttered around her and offered everything from finishing him off to a cup of tea, but her eyes stayed steady on his. "I find it pertinent to request an immediate transfer of station due to personal differences with my supervisor, sir."

"Request granted." He frowned at the man in the elevator, there was always one. "Take the rest of the day and report to my station at 9 a.m. for reassignment."

"Thank you, sir." She let someone lead her to another elevator and outside, they couldn't apparate inside, like they couldn't at Hogwarts.

* * *

The moment she got home, she took a very long and very hot bath. Curled up with her hair wet and smelling like the lavender, she was ready to sleep, so close to sleep when there was a knock on the door. She got up, turned on the lights of her cramped apartment as she walked. The light tank top and shorts she were wearing didn't concern her, people who knocked on their doors got what they got, nor did she care about how her place looked. But she was concerned that who ever was behind the door would see her eyes and take pity on her. She didn't want pity.

She opened the door, blinked. "Mr. Weasley, what are you doing at my door on a night such as this?"

His hand came up to his hair, tried to figure it out himself. He'd taken a look at her and forgotten everything, all that leg and the smile she wore even when her eyes were sad. "Geez, Mr. Weasley is my father, I'm just Ron." Then he remembered, he was doing a favor. "Mel wanted me to stop by, check up on you."

"You're soft on her." Tanya leaned against the door, "You hate her uncle, her cousin, and her mother, but your soft on her."

"Yeah, I..." He took a good look at her, his eyes narrowed. There was something about her, something off. He leaned against the counter as he watched her. "Something you want to talk about?"

The door slammed as she looked at him incredulously. "No, and if you don't mind, I've had a long day and don't appreciate the company." She could feel something slip inside her, and she wanted him gone. Within the next second if it was possible. "Please, I need you to go."

"What happened?" He stepped toward her. Out of reflex, she backed up quickly, knocking into a lamp and winced when it shattered into a million little pieces. She bend down to look at the floor, knelt down simply because she didn't want him to see the tears that had suddenly hit her. The combination of that flash of fright, the smashing of her favorite lamp, and the events of the day broke what little of her control she had. And if he didn't get out in the next four minutes, she was going to throw something.

He watched her, saw the shivers pass over her skin, she reached up to brush the hair over her shoulder. It was then he saw the scratches across her neck, red and new, and he saw the bruises on her wrists, blooming purple and blue. "Did somebody hurt you?"

"It's nothing." She pulled out her wand, repaired the lamp. Staring at it, she swore she could hear something crack inside of her, if only a soul could be fixed with a simple incantation. A sound escaped her throat as she clasped her hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's taken care of." She managed to get out clearly.

He went to her, was on the ground next to her, his fingers an inch above the bruises at her wrists. "What happened?"

She broke, a sob overtook her as Ron reached out for her. He just held her as she cried, waited her out. It infuriated him as he held tight, nothing was supposed to bring this much pain to a person, this was what he and Harry were supposed to be fighting against. She didn't have to suffer, she was supposed to be able to trust whoever hurt her so terribly.

The sobs stopped a while later, he looked down at her. She was leaning against him, clinging to the arm that was wrapped around her. When he reached over to brush her hair away from her face, she was asleep.

Carefully, he lifted her, carried her through the open door to her room. Her blankets were already folded down, made it easier to lay her down and pull the blanket over her. He walked out, was halfway out the door before he stopped himself.

What was he doing? He couldn't just leave her, not when she was in this condition. And that just brought on another, less comfortable question. Why did he care so much? It wasn't like they were friends, or like they even had the potential. He was just doing a favor for his best friend's adopted daughter, they'd only met three or four times before this. He owed her nothing. He wanted nothing of an emotional woman with the temper of a heavy weight champion. He just didn't. So how did he get stuck in this position? Caught between leaving and some transparent obligation he couldn't explain.

Heaving an exasperated sigh, he took the couch, and didn't even bother removing his coat.

* * *

The light filtered in through her open window, the sun warming her face as she yawned and stretched. She sat up, ran her hand through her tangled hair. Staring at the slightly open bedroom door, she remembered that Ron had been there. Was he so disgusted with her that he wouldn't come around a second time? It was odd that she hoped not, that she found herself hoping that maybe he was still here as she changed into her scrubs and walked out into the living room. And found herself alone.

Sitting on the table in her small eating nook was a cup of coffee, still warm. Underneath it was a note written in scrawling but legible handwriting.

_Tanya,_

_I hoped to still be here when you woke up, but I just got a message from the boss, duty calls. The coffee, I charmed it to stay warm until you wake up. So if it's cold, don't drink it, I may not have gotten it right. __Good luck._

_Ronald Weasley_

She grinned, picked it up to take a sip. What she tasted had her sputtering. She drank her coffee black, the stronger the better, but this was divine. So much so that it had startled her. It tasted as decadent as chocolate and when down smoother than her usual coffee. She stared at it for a second, wondering how he'd made it, then just shrugged. She took another drink before setting it down to finish getting ready for work.

When she was finally ready she finished off the coffee, just as warm as it had been when she put it down. "Full of surprises." She muttered to herself as she apparated into the ally behind St. Mungo's.

Somewhere behind him, a tree fell, he kept running. Crazy to take this job, he told himself for more than the hundredth time since Harry offered it years ago. Fumbling, he swore as he almost dropped his wand. He threw a curse at someone,couldn't see who, and he kept running toward the problem. Harry had fallen behind, caught in a bind, surrounded by several of this guy's minions. So he was alone.

He came to a halt. Standing there was something he never expected to see. She was stunning, taller that humanly possible, slender and slightly curvy. The short, short skirt left miles of leg and there was lots of skin between that and the bikini top she was sporting. Ebony hair ran sleek and straight down her back. Electric blue eyes sparkled out at him from underneath straight and heavy bangs. She just smiled at him, raised her wand.

He snapped out of his shock, it wasn't really that surprising that the mastermind was a woman. With his sister, Hermione, and his mom, he knew women could do everything a man could, if not better. Just as he knew a trap when he saw one. A woman like her would know how to play a man, even if he was on the other side of a battle. And he wasn't about to be taken in so easily.

When she moved to strike, he beat her to it. "Palliata animus rapio!" It seemed to form from the tip of his wand, a dementor fully grown and realistic. An illusion only, one Hermione had come up with, but it fooled even the bravest of opponents.

It worked, as far as the woman was concerned, she stumbled back, reacted accordingly. She summoned her patronus, a swan. It flew through the air and through his dementor, destroying it. He ducked, threw his arms up to protect himself. There was a flash of pain in his left arm and warm spread over his skin.

Harry shouted, having finally caught up, fired something at the the woman. Her patronus dropped and so did the illusion she seemed to have on herself. Harry stared at her as she shrunk, her pale skin turned just a little darker, her eyes turned brown and tilted. A face so familiar that he didn't react as she apparated away.

Ron was holding his arm, his fingers overflowing with blood as he looked at Harry. "Next time my sister's life is threatened by a cell of crazies, let's just stop and think things through before we go charging in. I mean, we know better than that, and if Ginny finds out, she'll kill you."

Harry reached up to touch the cut along his cheek bone. "Let's end this time before we worry about the next." He grimaced at Ron's arm, "You might want to wrap that, then go to St. Mungo's."

"I'm fine." Ron argued as he tore a piece off of his shirt and wrapped it around his arm. Harry tied it for him.

"Have you ever been bitten by a patronus before?" Harry's eyebrow raised as Ron shook his head. "Neither have I, and we're not taking any chances."


	3. Her coworkers and her new patient

**Sorry it's taking so long, my life is insanely hectic. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I promise the next one will be up within a couple of days.**

* * *

As she stepped into the elevator, she had a sudden, yet rare appreciation of company. Her current companion was an annoying young nurse with the maturity of a third year, but she didn't think she could walk into the elevator by herself. No, when the door shut, her heart hammered in her throat, her palms were sweaty. Marie chatted away cheerfully, bouncing back and forth on her cherry colored loafers. Her fire engine red hair hung around her face in short ringlets. Big blue eyes and a cheery personality made her most of the patients' favorite nurse.

The noise in Tanya's ears, the one that had steadily grown since the elevator started, was such a loud roar that it drowned out her companion's honey and cream voice. It hurt to breath, hurt to think, hurt to open her eyes.

Something brushed against her shoulder, a hand clamped her arm as air filled her lugs and she snapped out of it. "Are you alright?" Marie's eyes were concerned.

"Yeah." She nodded stiffly. " Just a preoccupied." The elevator doors were open, simply waiting for her to step off. Marie gave her an awkward smile, waved as she stepped off. She was trying to send her a message without making her feel stupid. They were both going to be late if they didn't report to their respective jobs.

She hurried out of the elevator, past the conference rooms where the clusters were getting a full rundown of whatever it was each group needed to work on. Procedure, work ethic, the Hippocratic oath (which applied even in the wizarding world). She didn't know which one was Dr. James' and she felt like a snoop for looking in on the individual groups. Some were laughing as the instructor plowed on, all of them enjoying whatever it was he had to teach them. Others were solemn and just taking notes.

And there was one that was just sitting there in quiet confusion. A nurse was handing them each a file, one by one they got up and left. It was her cluster, each getting a new assignment. One girl was taken into a corner, Tanya watched as whatever the nurse's message was sank in. The girl began to weep uncontrollably. She hated women like that, found them weak. God, had she been like that when Ron was at her place last night?

No, that answer was obvious, even to her. That had been different. She knew the girl well enough, knew it wasn't uncommon for her to burst into tears in an effort to induce sympathy and or guilt. People around her hurled out words that Tanya couldn't hear as the girl ran out of the room. Their eyes met and something inside her jumped with fear.

"You'd better watch your back." The girl spat, "'Cause I'll come for you."

Tanya just turned and walked away, confused by the woman's threat. What had she done? In the last week she couldn't remember doing anything that would warrant getting someone fired. Pushing it off on the need to blame someone, she continued her search for Dr. James' cluster.

She walked in, drawing the attention of all ten or twelve people, not including Dr. James himself. She swallowed hard, "You wanted to see me?"

Dr. James finally turned to look at her,"Yes, of course, how are you holding up?" The concern was evident in the eyes of everyone in the room. Certainly if they didn't know five minutes after she left, they knew now. People loved to talk.

"I'm fine." She lied. There was no reason for them to know that she still felt uneasy, or that it bothered her to see her cluster torn apart over what had happened, not that it came as a surprise. There was no reason for them to know that. "My new assignment, sir? I'd like to get back into the swing of things, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, have a seat." Thirteen heads did a double take as they stared at Dr. James.

"Sir?" She didn't trust her legs as she sat in an open chair.

"I've looked over your file. Your good and I want you on this team." He looked at the others, all of them were either watching him or watching her. "This is Dr. Tanya Lily, as some of you already know, if any one of you objects to adding her as a member of our team, speak now."

There was silence.

"Alright, would anybody like to tell Dr. Lily what extra responsibilities the members of our team are required to take on?"

"The women are asked to work in the midwives clinic." A woman about the same age as her, a French accent heavy in her voice, chestnut hair was pulled back in an tight little bun that Tanya could never master. "Dr. Stacy." She smiled warmly. "It's wonderful to see you."

"Dr. Brown." A slick blonde guy spoke up with a particularly interested look in his eye. She looked away quickly, though he kept talking. "Men sign up for the potions lab."

"Dr. Thomson." A petite woman with long black hair rolled her eyes in Dr. Brown's direction. "What the others have failed to mention is that we deal with new cases, not case files and already recovering patients. We've all had to prove ourselves to be here."

While she spoke, a nurse came in and handed Dr. James a file. He looked at it, nodded and told something to the woman before turning back to them. "And to be fair, I have a test lined up for you. Patient has a problem with his arm, diagnose the bite, treat him accordingly, and we'll see about keeping this position when he signs out."

She took the file, left.

* * *

She stepped off the elevator, considered momentarily turning back. Sitting in one of the chairs that lined the walls of reception was Ron. His hand seemed to be turning a ghostly white and she could see that the rag he'd tied to his arm in haste was soaked through with blood. Why, out of all the people that had to get bit or stung today, did it have to be him? Shaking off the tingling feeling that hit her stomach when his gaze met hers, she walked over to him. "Hey, what happened?"

"Oh." He grimaced as if he'd only just remembered why he was there. "Well, I went over to my mom's and she wanted something from the attic, can't remember what now. Anyways, I was digging in a box and next thing I know, well," He held up has arm before grumbling. "The receptionist lady said they'd send someone down."

"Did she really?" She smiled with a laugh. "Then I'm sure she made the call."

"Yeah." He rolled his eyes. "Probably some incompetent intern with man hands and a unibrow." He looked at her again, somewhat mortified as things clicked into place. "I am so sorry, I... Why are you laughing?"

"Since I have neither a unibrow or man hands, I won't take it personally." She started walking away. "Come on, we'll take a look at that bite and you'll be good as new."

She got him into an examination room, started rinsing out the wound with cool water before he spoke again. She was fantastic. Her hands were gentle and efficient as she washed his arm until the blood ran clean. And boy, was she beautiful. Her copper hair was tied back, glasses the color of silver surrounded her patient and concentrating eyes. "You smell good." He told her and he was rewarded with a warm smile.

"I wish I could say the same but you seemed to put in a good amount of work before you were bit." She straighted, swallowed painfully when she found herself looking directly into his eyes. "It should be clean, but I'd recommend staying overnight, just in case."

"Just in case." He agreed half-heartedly He wanted to kiss her, the need was stronger than any physical need he'd felt so far. He watched her hold the wand steady. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Sealing your bite so you don't get it infected." She watched him wince. He was trying not to complain, she could tell. Just as she knew it hurt like hell. "Thank you, by the way, for putting up with me last night, and the coffee."

"Well, I didn't have any big plans anyway." He shrugged.

"You're lying." She didn't need him to confirm it. And it was sweet of him, in her opinion, to try and make her feel better about ruining his evening by making it seem beneficial to him as well. "Either way, I can assure you I'm not always that... fragile."

"Rough day?" He asked her, she just kinda rolled her eyes in response. It was worse, much worse than a bad day, and she wasn't offering details. "Want to share?"

"Maybe when it's not so fresh in my mind, then I'll tell you." she didn't realize she was promising to see him again, it wouldn't strike her until later. But he noticed, and he didn't mind one bit, much to his surprise.

"I look forward to it." He smiled, touched the marks on her neck that were just barely covered up by makeup. But he didn't ask any more about it. "If I'm staying the night, does that mean you'll be staying with me?"

"I'll be in the hospital for most of the night." She told him. "But I'll be in the maternity clinic getting my training as a midwife."

"You're going to be a midwife?" He laughed, earning a hard stare from her. She, obviously did not find it so funny.

"It's part of my required training now that I've transferred." She didn't know how to explain it without explaining it. So she prayed that he wouldn't ask.

"Alright." He nodded, looked around at the cramped room. "I'm not sleeping here, am I?"

"No." It was her turn to laugh, her smile was quick and bright. " You'll be on the first floor."

"Right." He looked confused suddenly. "Everybody in here are Doctors, and not Healers?"

"When we got our first Muggle born Minister, after the second war, he believed that the term Healer sounded almost like we sprinkle herbs and other ridiculous nonsense. And in some cases, they actually did. It was blatant, uncaring, and more often than not, cruel. St. Mungo's had fallen into a horrible slump with the worst patient care known to even Muggles. Doctors took the place of Healers, and this hospital's been rising back up to the best Wizarding hospital in the world." She had fallen into an almost story-telling mode. And the moment she was done, she looked around as if she'd forgotten where she was. "And that's that."

"You know all that?" It was astounding, listening to her talk, completely astounding.

"I've wanted to work here since I was five, I keep up to date with things." She straightened. "Now, if you'll come with me, we'll get you signed in."


	4. Meeting Eloise

**_Sorry! I intended to get this up sooner, life just gets in the way. Sorry! R&R please!_**

* * *

With Ron settled in marginally comfortable, she reported the status to Dr. James and was given another assignment. It was time to start working down in the clinic. When she got down to the ground floor, she took a quick left and ducked into a smaller, more discreet elevator. It took her down a floor, a new addition in the last couple of years.

She stepped out into the maternity clinic, and she prided herself in not choking up when she saw the girl not much older than Mel on an examination table through an open door. Everybody looked rather busy, but the receptionist, between arguing with someone over the desk and settling the frantic rantings of a sobbing mother to be, pointed to an exam room and managed to say, "Miss Eloise."

Tanya turned toward the exam room, slipped in quietly as the woman she assumed to be Miss Eloise explained something to the patient she was with. Miss Eloise was about fifty, her hair was loose and spilling over her shoulders in a mix of deep brown and gray. But it was the patient that had Tanya taking a double take. She was only a couple of years older than Mel, and more scared than what should have been possible. And Tanya didn't have to be told the girl was all alone, she just knew.

Silently the girl got up and left, never taking her eyes off of the ground. Miss Eloise turned and looked at her with the same soft eyes she'd used on the young expecting mother. They were the color of aged whiskey and as wise as an old owl. "You must be Miss Tanya. Welcome to the Maternity clinic. Most of our patients here are alone, for what ever reason. They don't come here to be judged but to get the support their families should give them."

"Why don't they, then?" Tanya walked around and sat on a stool, while Miss Eloise sat in the other one.

"More often than not, the girls get pregnant out of wedlock and their families are harsher than they should be. And it's a shame for them because those are some great girls. So they have no where else to turn but here. But we do get the rare case where husband, boyfriend, or mother come in with them." Miss Eloise remembered something and jotted it down on a chart before looking at her again. "To be honest, most of our work is out of the hospital. All the doctors on this floor are midwives. We get owls two to four times a week. A team of three to five, depending on the circumstances, the workload here in the ward, and how understaffed we are. Sometimes we go to Egypt, we've been to France on several occasions, but for all the Wizard Hospitals there are in the world, we're the only one with a Maternity clinic so we're swamped with work.

It was such a relief when Dr. James offered us his female interns. You'd be surprised what a blessing two or three fresh faces are on a busy day like this. More and more patients come in and our doctors burn out rapidly, I'm afraid." Eloise swept her eyes over her new midwife. "You look competent enough."

Tanya just smiled, Miss Eloise reminded her of her mother, before she'd gotten sick. Rambling on and on but always coming back to the point. "I will be glad if I can help even a little, but I'm afraid I don't know anything about pregnancy or birth."

"Now don't let a little thing like that stop you," Eloise went to the door, called out to the nurse in a kind of jargon Tanya didn't understand. "Well, come on, girl." She shut the door. " Let's see how fast you catch on."

* * *

Five hours later, just as her shift was just reaching the three quarters mark, all she wanted to do was go to sleep and never wake up. Who could know there'd be so much to learn about the stages of a female body and the child it carried. And she was just sitting down on a bench outside Ron's door when a nurse came out and looked at her with horrified eyes. "You need to come see this, now."

Tanya stood quickly, the sound of shaking caught her ears, she knew that sound anywhere. It sounded like the seizures her mother used to have. "Get Dr. James, quickly."

Tanya went in, saw the convulsions and the doctor that was in there to do a routine check was doing her best to hold him down. It was Dr. Thomson from the meeting earlier that morning. But she barely acknowledged the doctor and her frantic combination of charms and orders. He looked like a fish out of water, and it sent her back to that bedroom when she was thirteen, coming home from a friends house to find her mother like that. But she had thought she'd be ready to handle it again, no, this was worse some how. It was horrifying. Everything was moving around her but it seemed like she was frozen, his lips were going from pink to bluish.

"Doctor Lily!" Doctor Thomson kicked her gently with her foot, still desperately trying to stable him. "Hold him down, or I'll never be able to administer a sleeping draft."

"Sleeping draft?" She moved to pin down Ron's arms. "Won't he still have trouble breathing?"

She came back with a vial, held Ron's nose and poured it down quickly. He sputtered, but nature had him swallowing it anyway. "His body is only reacting to the convulsions." Even as she spoke, Ron's body stilled and his breathing steadied. "Stay for an hour, at least, give him more of this if he has another attack."

"Right." Tanya took the vial from her, sat down in a chair beside the bed. She reached to hold his hand in hers. When two drops fell off her face and into her lap, she stared down at them. She hadn't realized she'd been crying. She wiped them away quickly, feeling foolish. She wasn't supposed to cry for him, she hardly knew him. And she knew that was bullshit, she felt something for him, whatever it was.

"How is he?" Dr. James's voice had her jerking away from Ron. What was she doing? She wasn't supposed to get all emotional over a patient, especially on her very first case. She was supposed to be proving herself to him.

She stood and looked at him as he stood in the doorway. "He's stable for now, but I can't figure out what I missed. There's no sign now that anything is wrong except that wound on his arm."

"What does he do for a living?" Dr. James knew. When the name rang a bell, he had a nurse do some digging. But he wanted to know if she knew. More importantly, he wanted to see just how close she was to her patient.

"He's an Auror." She thought back, remembering how cool and collected he had seemed while everything was going on at the school. "He works under his best friend, Mister Harry Potter. They were just a couple of years before me in school."

"Can you be objective?" He looked at Ron, not quite ready to enter the room. It was going to be a problem, but he couldn't see any other choice.

"I can try." She didn't know what to think. Honesty was the biggest thing for her, but could it also risk her patient, and this test?

"Good. You're going to be getting some quality time with him until we know what's going on."

He took a chart from the door, wrote something down. "The moment there's a private suite open, we're moving you in there. We don't know if it's contagious and you're the only one so far who's been exposed. Until we know what we're dealing with, we can't risk getting the rest of the floor sick."

"You're putting me under quarantine with him?" She swallowed hard. A small private suite, just the two of them. Then it hit her. Whatever was wrong with Ron was wrong with her. That seizure could have killed Ron, which made her believe that it could kill her too. God, she didn't want to die. If she did, she'd shove all the blame on Ron. Which, of course, wouldn't make her feel any better.

"This will not count as your test, I should have made sure the patient was safe enough before I shoved him off on you." He stepped a little closer to her. "I know this is one more tough situation you have to worry about, but it's probably nothing, just precaution."

She nodded, shut her eyes. "When?"

"Two or three hours." He rested a hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure this out."

"I hope so." She sat back down next to Ron and buried her face in her hands out of surrender. "I certainly hope so."


	5. the visitation

**Sorry this one was so short, I was suffering from writing block, but hopefully it's cleared up now and I can focus on writing again. Thank you for being patient with me.**

* * *

She was still sitting in the rather uncomfortable chair when Ron's visitors walked in. She could see past them, the nurse had frantically tried to convince them not to go in but had unfortunately received a very nasty bat-bogey hex. She'd put on a mask about an hour before, simply because she hadn't wanted to argue with the nurse who'd come in to give it to her. Though in her mind, if she was already infected it wasn't like the mask was going to help. But now she was relieved, patients tended to cooperate more if you didn't look like a hypocrite.

She got up to greet them, smiled as she had when she met them on different occasions. "Mr. and Mrs. Potter, you may want to put these on." She handed Harry a mask, which he took willingly, and offered one to Ginny.

"No, thank you." She shook her head, tried to step around her but Tanya moved to block her way. "I'm not going to get a little squeamish about sharing germs with my brother."

"Ginny." Harry took the mask from Tanya, "You heard the doctor in the lobby, they don't know what it is. It could be a whole lot worse than a little germ. Right, Dr. Lily?" He looked at Tanya for help.

"Right." Ginny wasn't convinced, and Tanya didn't blame her. So she tried a different approach, woman to woman, as she had seen Eloise talk to the girl in the clinic. "If I might be so bold, Mrs. Potter, even if it is a small germ that could possibly only cause you the mildest irritation, you should protect yourself. Your baby's immune system is fragile and the smallest things have the potential to damage organs or even kill. Do you really want to risk endangering your child before birth?"

Ginny took the mask without a word, put it on before going over to see Ron. Tanya stayed there with Harry, she could see he wanted to talk to her. He waited until Ginny was out of earshot until he spoke. "Thanks, Ginny can be difficult on occasion."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well seeing as I may or may not have just lied to your wife for you, maybe you won't mind telling me where he was when he got bit."

"What did he tell you?" Harry's eyes hardened that told her he wouldn't give it up easily. That was alright, she was up for the challenge.

"Don't worry, he gave me what I'm assuming is the standard cover story. He was helping his mom." Harry said nothing, but she noted his jaw tense for just a quick second. "I get it, you don't think you can tell me for reasons I can't possibly understand, but don't insult my intelligence. He had dirt and leaves on his clothes, there were minor scratches on his arms and face, and he was walking like both of his legs were sore when he came in. He was out, doing something that I don't honestly care about. I just want to know if there's anything unusual that happened that stuck out. Do you know what bit him?"

He looked at Ron, the look in his eyes had her backtracking. "He's your friend and you care about him. But you've always got the job to think of and telling me something could risk the lives of everyone who's under your command. I have a job to do as well, and mine could save the life of your friend. So you need to make a choice, trust me or don't. Don't answer now, go and visit him, you won't be able to once Dr. James arranges a proper quarantine room."

"Thank you, Doctor." Harry went around her and stood next to Ginny. Tanya didn't want to watch because it felt intrusive, but she was hoping to be able to lip read. She had a feeling Harry would say something in front of Ginny that he wouldn't say to her. She sat down in the corner of the room so that she could see Harry's mouth and waited. They took off the masks like she thought they would, but she didn't bother saying anything.

It was a skill she'd been forced to learn along with her mother, that and fluent sign language. First it had been the convulsions, then she lost control of her vocal chords, then one by one she'd begun to lose her senses. But her mother was alive, she reminded herself, she was in a muggle nursing home. And that was alright, Tanya understood, she'd pushed away from the wizarding world after her father left them. She wasn't about to force her to go back.

But she could put the lessons it gave her to use. She watched over the top of a medical journal, but unfortunately she didn't learn anything that was relevant to her diagnosis. She did, however, learn that Ron's mom hadn't been told yet because they did not want to worry her until they were sure he'd be alright. Which more than confirmed her suspicion that they were all lying to her.

* * *

She grimaced at the selection of food in their cupboard. Something in here would have to work for a meal for two. She'd take the couch, he'd get the bed. This could work, if it was just going to be for a day or two. The quarantine apartment was right above the top official floor and wasn't used very often, but it was comfortable. Quickly and out of habit, she looked through the open door to see his covered legs. He'd wake up again soon because the sleeping draught was wearing off. And then she'd have a nice conversation with him, because she wanted the truth.


	6. when the fever sets in

_Short but what I had written wasn't working for me so I had to choose a different direction to take this. I have a lot of this written, I just don't have time to type it all out. Sorry for taking so long._

* * *

She was there when he woke up, that was what he'd remember for the rest of his life when he thought of her. She was waiting, flipping through the pages of a book. By now, she'd changed out of her scrubs and was totally in her own world, which gave him a moment to just look at her. She was so lovely, was the first thought to actually register in his mind as accurate. The second was that he wasn't in the same room as he was when he'd evidently fallen asleep.

"Confused?" She came over to him from chair, sat down on the edge of the bed and felt his forehead for his temperature. The fever that had been growing for the last couple of hours was worsening. But she wasn't going to worry him about it until she had to. "We've been moved to a long term residential suite, mostly used for quarantine."

"We?" He thought her choice of pronouns was off. Of course, being his nurse she'd be spending time in here through out the day. But she'd get to leave, go home, see her other patients. The word quarantine meant he wouldn't get to see anyone for a while.

Her voice lowered a little, she looked at the bed instead of him, because she couldn't bring herself to look at him. "Dr. James is concerned that whatever you have is contagious." She sat down on the bed next to him. "It's not just a bite."

"Yeah." He sat up against the headboard, looked around the small bedroom. "So, where are you sleeping?"

"There's a couch out there, I'll be on that." She knew he wasn't telling her something and it was starting to piss her off. Did he think she was stupid? Or that she was some kind of miracle worker? She couldn't cure whatever it was he had unless he told her what caused it. And she had to ask, to give him the opportunity to save them both. "I'm in this, same as you. If there's something you're not telling me, I need to know now."

"There's nothing." He shook his head. "You know, there's room in this bed for..."

"You're horrible." She got up, irritation overwhelming her common sense. She had known he would be difficult, so why was she upset? She didn't even try to answer that question. "You're killing us both and all you seem to worry about is that I'm going to sleep on that couch. I wouldn't share a bed with you if my choice was between you and selling my body to the vilest of men." With that thought propelling her, she stormed out and into the small kitchenette.

He laid there, listening to her ramble on to herself in the other room. He couldn't get a grip on her. One moment she was smiling and sympathetic, the next she was angry, snarling, and he didn't care to admit it but radiant. It was cliched to say she was beautiful when she was angry but it was far from a lie.

He did want to tell her the truth, it wasn't right to make her suffer along with him. And it wasn't fair to her as she was only trying to do her job to the best of her ability. But he had to talk to Harry first, to clear it with him. So, because it was a ridiculous idea to let her spend the night on the couch when the bed was plenty big enough, he lifted himself up from the bed and followed her out. He was prepared to grovel, bargain, or whatever it took.

She was there at the stove, now that his brain was fully awake, he could process what she was wearing. She'd chosen a snug sweater and black slacks. Her feet were bare which was oddly arousing and her hair was secure in a loose bun. There was tight feeling in his gut, a warm one, and it bothered him. "That smells great. What is it?"

"Food." She snapped, put down the knife she'd been using for the potatoes to wipe away the weariness in her eyes. It was foolish to feel so tired, but it'd been a long, long day and she wasn't going to let him see her weak. "There's whiskey in the cabinet if you'd like to pour some for us."

He got it out silently, along with the other dishes. While she finished cooking, he set the table and lit the candles.

She turned, saw the dimmed light and the intimate setting. Her heart melted and something inside her warned her that anything he asked for she'd most likely give it to him. However, she certainly wasn't going to make it easy for him.

Silently, she sat and began to eat. He didn't say anything, finding himself surprisingly dizzy after he joined her. Because he knew she'd fuss, he said nothing, only concentrated on getting the food into his mouth. But she knew, as she watched him she could see all the trouble he was starting to have. When he finally dropped the fork and started cursing himself, she got up and went over to feel his forehead again. Yes, he was really burning up. Before she could say anything he smacked her hand away with an angry "don't touch me."

She nodded, sat down and drew out her wand. He was so out of it, he didn't even notice her putting a charm on his whiskey. The next drink he took had him out cold and with the help of a levitation charm, she managed to get him into bed.


	7. waking up

_It was dark and cold, she couldn't hear and all she could see was a oil lamp sitting on a table a little bit away. It wasn't fear she felt, it was anticipation. She backed up, hit the edge of a large bed. Her head hit the soft blanket the color of grass after a long rain._

_ Suddenly she could smell him, his aroma hit her like a battering ram. It was manly, with a faint touch of spices that she knew to be Ron. He was suddenly there, on top of her, kissing her, making her feel wanted. She leaned into every touch, responded enthusiastically to his advances. Then things began to happen._

_ Fear crept up on her out of nowhere, she slammed her eyes shut. Above her there was dark laughter that did not belong to Ron, and then there was pain. His hands were all over her, but they were big meaty hands and not his long slender fingers. She could smell stale alcohol and rotting food. Peeking out of just one eye, she saw her old Cluster leader. _

_ His hands kept going, no matter how hard she tried to fight them off, and she felt his teeth tear at her neck. Something in her wrist cracked loudly. Was it broken?_

_ When he pulled at the thin material of her night shorts, she screamed._

She launched herself up, drenched in a thin layer of cold sweat. She was alright, she told herself, it was a dream and nothing more. He was in trouble, though whether prison time was concerned had never been established. Still, he couldn't touch her any more and that was enough. And she shouldn't sit here, worrying herself about it.

So she got up, determined to not let him beat her, and went to go check on Ron.

About half an hour later, she was still sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to come up with an answer. But unfortunately, she couldn't come up with any. All she knew was, he wasn't getting any better. "You're running a fever." She told him when his eyes slitted open. "I tried to calm it, but what ever's causing it is resistant to magic. So you're just going to have to lay there for a while and behave.."

"Yeah, that sounds like my luck." He started to sit up, just to fall back down onto the pillow when dizziness struck.

"Will you just please do as you're told?" She had to ask, though she knew the answer would be no. "Your body is going to fail. Already the poison is ending messages to your brain. That's what's causing the fever, the dizziness, and the seizures. You don't want it getting any worse." Though it was inevitable.

"How do you know it will?" Maybe he was getting better, after all, a fever didn't seem quite as harsh as a seizure. His symptoms were declining, weren't they?

She looked at him with a cool expression but inside she was shaking. Did he not see how serious this all was? It wasn't just a fever, a fever was treatable. She could do nothing for this and if it got too high he would die. It was unbearable to have her hands tied behind her back in such a way. "If you don't believe me, walk out of this hospital and get on with your life."

"You're a moody one, aren't you." He laughed weakly, ignored the headache it caused. There was something brewing beneath her surface, something that would fester and explode. Something that would hurt her until it was gone. "Why is everything a battle to you? Who hurt you enough to fight constantly as you do?"

"No one." She lied. He quirked an eyebrow at her. Had she really thought she could fool him? It hadn't worked before. "I don't want to talk about it."

Her hand came up to touch her neck where the cut was absently. The dream was still so unbearably fresh in her mind. She could still feel his teeth dig into her neck as his hands groped her.

"You're okay now." Ron had seen the glaze of tears come over her eyes. He reached out to take her hand off her neck and hold it in his own. "You can tell me when you're ready, but nobody is going to hurt you anymore."

"I know." She nodded almost without thought, rose and looked at him. But she looked through him instead, as if she didn't even see him. "You should go to sleep now, I didn't mean to way you anyway."

When she started to leave, he grabbed her arm. "You won't be able to sleep if you're alone. Stay here," He flashed a sleepy grin and patted the bed next to him. "I promise I won't try and pull anything."

"Right." He _was_ right. She didn't want to be alone. She was positive the dreams would come back if she tried. She couldn't be alone. When he pulled her down onto the bed, she let him and curled into his waiting arms. He held her, waited until her breathing had evened out and she'd drifted off, then followed her into sleep.

She woke up with the sun in on her face. Day two, she smiled to herself as she looked up at the man holding her. There was a tug on her heart as she remembered the night before. He'd been so careful with her, he never pushed her into telling him, and it had helped.

She cared about him, she realized with a dull ache. She wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with a patient. A frown replaced her sleepy smile. Maybe this wasn't the best choice for her. She couldn't be a doctor very well if she couldn't be objective. No, she argued with herself, she _could_ be a doctor, but one thing was clear. She couldn't handle the creature-induced injuries ward after this. And now that she thought about it for a second, she couldn't think of a single thing she liked about her job.

The patients were deceitful and full of excuses, including the one next to her, the doctors were cold and indifferent. This wasn't the job she thought it was, the one where she would find the answers she was looking for while saving the lives of innocent patients that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. This wasn't the ward for her.

She got up slowly, trying not to disturb Ron. She'd have to send her report by owl, but it did have to get done if she ever wanted out of here. Sitting down at the table with scroll and quill, she wrote out everything she thought Dr. James should know, including her short resignation and apology.

When the owl flew off, she knew it would change nothing. They were still quarantined until they knew what was wrong.

"Hey." Ron said from behind her, she turned to see him leaning on the bedroom doorway. "What're you doing?"

"Resigning." She didn't look at him, couldn't stand his questioning gaze. "I can't do anything in the ward that can't be done by anybody else. But there must be a ward that I can be of some good in."

"Is this because of us?" He didn't want to think about it if it was, he didn't want the guilt of knowing that his flirtation had caused her to give up what she wanted most.

"There is no us." She didn't add the _yet_ but it was there, unspoken between them. "I think I've known for a while, but the last couple for days have been an eye opener. Now, you need to go back to bed before you pass out again." He was looking awfully pale.

"I don't like being alone in there." He whined as if he was a five year old.

"I'll come with you." She got up and walked with him back to the bed. When he was back under the covers, she sat cross legged next to him. They talked for the first time about things that weren't life and death. Books, politics, music, quidditch. It didn't seem to matter. And when he was asleep, she opened her book and continued to read until he would awake to talk some more.


	8. Two sides of the coin

**This isn't the best chapter, but it isn't over yet! I didn't know how to write these events (there would be a lot of empty time to fill and I really don't have that kind of patience) and if it went on any longer this story would take forever. So, I really do hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Day three. She ignored the sick feeling in her stomach as she woke up in the bed with Ron again. She had to stop, this had to stop. She pushed herself up to look out the window. She was getting used to this, too used to this. How was she ever supposed to adjust to life again if she stayed here a week? What about two? It would be difficult to readjust, she told herself, but it wouldn't be impossible.

When he turned on his side, she looked at Ron. She could already feel herself getting lost to him. No, that was wrong. She _was_ lost to him. She cared about him and in any other situation, she probably would have dated him. Would it have gone past that? She'd never know, but she'd have tried.

But oh, he was more of a man than she'd originally thought he was. They'd talked forever, about his adventures and about school, about the hospital and her mother, even about the other students that had been there while they were both there. Still, it wasn't the conversation that got her, it was the random touches, the way his fingers would brush her cheek, or he'd rest his hand on top of hers. And it was the looks he'd give her when he didn't think she was watching. Her breath shuddered as realization hit, she was falling in love with him and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She didn't have to act on it, she decided.

"You stare at me a lot." He opened his eyes to look at her, pulling himself to an almost upright position. When he saw the look in her eyes, the one that matched the warm and tingling feeling in his chest, he pulled her against him. "I'm going to kiss you." He told her as he removed the glasses she'd put on before even sitting up without thinking about it.

She nodded silently, tilted her head up to give him better access to her lips. The kiss was hot and passionate, there was no gentle edge, only pure emotional lust. She wanted him, needed him. For once, she wanted to be reckless, to not worry about the next morning or what he'd think of her. She moaned against his lips, relishing in the feeling of his hands over her skin. But when his fingers brushed her breasts, her heart leaped to her throat. "Ron, I can't." Fear, no matter how rash it was, pushed her to try and pull away. She didn't want to stop, it felt so good, but she couldn't. She couldn't do this as it was now, and she didn't know how to word it. "I want to, but I can't."

He understood, more than he thought he would. He understood that what she needed, what she was asking him for, was not to stop. It was to show her that this was some how different than whatever experience was keeping her back. He kissed her again, slowly and passionately.

She could feel her heart pounding, but in a good way. Yes, only someone who cared would know how to treat her fears. She could feel something inside her heal and strengthen with every kiss, every touch, every gentle whisper. And as they moved with each other, she delighted in the pure lust that fueled the simmering heat.

He pulled the blankets a little closer over her when she shivered, her copper hair was splayed across his chest, and their legs were entangled. His arm was around her, his fingers brushing her skin gently as he thought to himself.

He was getting himself into trouble. Getting involved would just cause problems between his heart and his mind. But he couldn't think of another reason why not to just go with it. She was a kind and gentle woman with a temper that he knew was more fire than he'd seen. He didn't see why it would kill him to spend some time romancing her. It wasn't like he'd been with a woman since Hermione.

Still, it would be a problem after the glow of new romance wore off, then not only would the relationship would be over, but the friendship too.

Harry was pacing in Dr. James' office. Dr. James was telling him nothing more than that Ron had gotten worse the day before. He knew what this was, it was a ploy to get him to tell him what he knew. It wouldn't work. If Ron wasn't going to tell them, than neither was he.

"Mr. Potter." Dr. James knew when someone was going to be difficult, but he was concerned. He doubted Mr. Potter knew exactly how bad the situation was. If the disease Mr. Weasley had brought into their hospital truly was contagious and one of his interns caught it, oh, he was going to be extremely unhappy. And things tended to happen when he was unhappy. "Do you know a Tanya Lily?"

He remembered the student who had stayed strong long enough to find help so long ago. Melinda's friend with the red hair who'd gotten the award. The one who'd made Ron nervous. "Yes, she's his attending doctor."

"Intern." Dr. James corrected honestly, "But smarter than most doctors on staff. She may have contracted your friend's disease. Now, I'm all fine with risking Mr. Weasley's life if he's not willing to play by the rules, but I will not let him kill my intern."

"Is this supposed to be some kind of threat?" Harry didn't want to think about this. If he was supposed to help people, where was the line? Did he keep his friend's trust or possibly help an innocent person?

"I'm just suggesting you do your job." Dr. James stood now, took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes. "I'd hate to have to talk to the minister, but if you give me no choice..."

Tanya was making dinner when she heard the tapping. Ron was up and moving around slowly, so he went to the window, let the owl in. "There's a package here for you." He told her, a bad feeling in his gut.

"Alright." She took it from him, gestured to the pot. "If you wouldn't mind just stirring that."

He'd spent enough time in the kitchen as a kid to know there would be no complaining. So he watched her carefully over the pot as she opened it. Nestled inside was a flask and a letter rested on top. Quickly, she scanned the words, mouthing them as she processed what she read. Her face paled and she began mumbling things that he had a feeling were not on the page. Before he could ask what was going on, she picked up the package and took it with her into the bedroom.

When he left the pot long enough to see her through the open door, she was signing furiously to herself. He'd have to ask her about that later, but now was obviously not the time. So he turned his thoughts to other things. He had to tell her how he felt, he knew, even if he wasn't sure what that was. And before he could do that, before she could believe him, he had to tell her the truth.

By the time she came back out, he had worked out what he was going to say, and he'd finished dinner. It was on plates in a similar setting of the other night. But she spoke before he could start. "You're symptoms will be, in this order from here on out: severe seizures, constant migraine, a lack of appetite, loss of hearing, then the rest of your senses, blindness coming last, paralysis starting at the feet and traveling upward until you're a vegetable, and more pleasantries."

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad." He gulped, then met the steel look in her eyes. Something was wrong. "How do you know what comes next?"

"When you live with someone who gets bit by a patronus and have to watch them go through it, it's hard to forget." She kept her voice flat, because the flash in his eyes confirmed what she'd already been told. "Mr. Potter told Dr. James when he found out it wasn't just you were endangering."

"It's contagious?" She watched this sink in before she held out the flask for him.

"It's not only contagious, but it's victims, when they reach the paralysis stage they don't wake back up." There was a bite in her voice. She had to leave, and she had to leave now or she was going to cry. "I'm going to leave this here. Just do me a favor and don't try to contact me once I walk out."

He didn't take it, but he did move to block the door.. "You don't want to see me anymore?"

"You didn't just lie to me, Ron." She pulled her hair up, ignored the tears that spilled down over her cheeks. She couldn't hold it back any longer. "And you didn't just play with my emotions to get me to ignore that. You were going to kill me and yourself if your friend hadn't stepped in."

"I couldn't." His fists clenched angrily. How dare she? Play with her emotions? She really thought he could do that to her, then maybe it was a good thing he hadn't told her what was running through his heart. "It was bigger than just you and me."

"And who was going to get hurt if you told me?" She was yelling now. "Who's life would have been in jeopardy if you got better? Admit it, or don't, I don't bloody well care."

She slammed the flask down, went to the door, but Ron blocked her. "Get the hell out of my way."

"I don't think so." He growled back, his face inches from hers.

She punched him in the face, smirked when he had to grab his nose in an effort to stop the bleeding. "I told you to get out of my way." And walked out of his life.


	9. Life continues on

A month and a half had gone by and there wasn't a day he wasn't on her mind. Damn him, she thought bitterly when she'd apparated into the alley behind the muggle hospital. She wanted nothing more than to forget about him. But no, every time she had a moment to herself, she found herself thinking about him. And that had to stop now, she had things to do and Ron had no place here.

_That was a lie_. A voice told her as she went around to the front of the hospital. He'd been so close to ending up here as well. No, don't think about that. She scolded herself as she pulled the hood of her borrowed cloak down, she went around and ducked inside as if she was any normal person. Then again, there was a point in her life when she'd practically lived in this small, cozy hospital. This place was forgotten about to everyone who didn't already have a patient in there.

"Tanya." The receptionist made no comment on the strange outerwear, she'd seen it all before. "You haven't stopped by in a while."

"I've been at school, Rose, finally got my medical license." That was only a partial lie so she didn't feel too guilty about deceiving her oldest and dearest friend. "Any improvement?"

"One of the nurses swore she mumbled things yesterday," Rose shrugged, they shared a knowing look. There was always someone who saw something. "She hasn't moved since anyone but her has been in the room."

"As always." She left her cloak on the chair by the desk, walked up the quick flight of stairs and into the room that had belonged to her mother for years with not an gram of hope. Her mother, who's face matched hers in almost every detail, was still and silent. The only noise was the machine that beeped, measuring her heartbeat, proving that she was still in there somehow.

Tanya went around the bed, pulled up a visitors chair to sit next to her. "I finished school, Mum, if only you could have been there. I'd have introduced you to my friend Mel, you'd have loved her. Feisty and strong-headed. It was an eventful year, the school was attacked a couple of times but nobody was too seriously injured. Oh, I _did_ meet a man, such a wonderful man. But thick as stone. You used to tell me the stubborn ones were the best, but now I'm not so sure.

See, I think I screwed things up. I was so angry with him for something I realize now he had no control of. And I can't go back and fix it, even if I could face him I wouldn't know what to say. So, I'll let him get on with his life." Her face crumbled for a second as she looked at her stony mother. But she shook it off, laid one hand on her stomach and the other on top of her mother's hand. "I made a mistake. I fell in love with him and I gave myself to him, then I drove him away. Now, I'm afraid I must face this journey alone."

She went into work with a smile on her face. Her new position in the maternity ward always brought her satisfaction when she was done for the day and she couldn't work in a better place. She was helping people who wanted to be helped, whom she could relate to as she was going through the same thing. And certainly no one tried to test her, which was a plus.

As the elevator took her down to maternity, she put her hands on her stomach, glad to hide it under loose scrubs. Only one person knew about her condition, Eloise. It was three months now, a full trimester had passed without the father's knowledge. And she missed him, but there was nothing she could do about it. "Just you hang in there." She cooed softly as the doors opened.

Today she was a midwife for the first time. She'd been staying in the ward, taking care of other patients while everyone else did what they knew how to do. But today, she'd go and observe, just observe. If, of course, they got a message saying they were needed.

An owl swooped over head, coming out of the small window, she had the feeling that a lack of births wasn't going to be the problem. Eloise grabbed it, looked at the address carefully. "Well, I'll be damned."

"What?" Tanya couldn't help the excitement as she waited, denied herself the urge to bounce back and forth like a little child. "What?"

Eloise beamed at her. "I delivered this child and her siblings myself." Tanya could have sworn the seventy-some year old woman was going to cry. "Charlie was _my_ first delivery. She looked at Tanya with pride. "And now her baby girl's child shall be _your_ first."

"Okay," Tanya stood in the middle of the rushing ward, panicking and stricken with an odd fear when faced with the actuality of being there when a life would be brought into the world. "I get it, the whole circle of life thing. Let's go."

They apparated into the living room, as crowded and cramped as it was. Eloise, Tanya, and another midwife named Jessica heard the noises upstairs as well as the rushing of feet on the stairs. "Molly." Eloise smiled familiarly. "How's she doing?"

"Stubborn as a mule." Molly was beaming, only slightly fatigued and worn. "I'm so happy you're here, Eloise." She looked at Tanya and Jessica now. "Welcome to the Burrow, she's up this way."

They followed her up and past a bedroom where men and women paced. It was then she realized that she still had no idea the last name of the mother or Molly. When Tanya entered the room with the mother to be, she cursed under her breath. The whole circle of life comment had to be coming back to bite her in the arse.

Ginny was breathing as deeply as she could. Harry was on one side, letting her grip his hand as tightly as he could, while Ron stayed on the other side and looked as green as possible.


	10. A million more

**So this is the last chapter. Sorry this story isn't as good as it should have been, but I just needed to get this story told before I could continue. I hope you enjoyed it at least a little. **

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Eloise moved efficiently, yet Tanya saw no reason to it. She nodded to Jessica and she went across the room to fill a basin full of water. Nobody told Tanya what to do or what not to do. Was she just supposed to observe? She had a feeling Eloise wanted to do something.

Ron's eyes rose and met hers as if he had smelled her. She couldn't look away, could only feel the pain that came from his eyes hitting her right in the chest. She wanted to leave, to run from the room and pretend that she hadn't seen him. What was she supposed to say to him?

Eloise was watching carefully and she knew love when she saw it even if that love was somehow severed. When Tanya placed a hand on her small but growing belly without realizing it, Eloise had to do her best not to say something. But an opportunity like this couldn't be passed up, and she hated to see a woman go through her pregnancy alone.

"You go on and get Mr. Weasley out of here before he passes out on the floor." She told the girl, stopped her before she could argue. "You're not going to do us any good by staying in this small place, get him out of here and work on your bedside manner."

"Please." Tanya's voice dropped so that only Eloise could hear. "I can't talk to him."

"Go, child." Eloise gestured to the door, the last of her patience snapping suddenly. "Get out of my sight and don't come back until you're ready to do what you're told." She knew what she was doing, snapping at her had made her run from the room practically in tears. Which made Ron jump to his feet and go after her. Whether or not he was pissed a man never wanted to see the woman he loved in tears.

He stormed after her, but was faced with Mel in the hallway. "Don't even think about going after her." Her hair was longer, but not as long as it used to be. It was braided at the nape of her neck and somehow she looked stronger than she had only a few months ago.

"Don't stand it my way, girl." He tried to move past her, she shifted. "Listen..."

"No, you listen." Mel's eyes softened but she didn't move out of his way. "You care, but you're unobservant. She's suffering as I'm sure you are. But she feels alone, where as you have all these people around you."

"She doesn't talk to you anymore, does she?" Ron stopped being worried/angry for a moment when he saw the concern in her eyes.

"I'm her lover's best friend's daughter. She doesn't think I'd be on her side in all of this." Mel shrugged, it wasn't like she took it offensively. Tanya knew she cared about Ron like she really was part of his familial circle. "Now you can go." She moved away from the stairwell, "To make things easier for you, I sent her up to your old room."

He went up now, taking the stairs two at the time. When he slammed the door shut behind him, she looked up. She'd been sitting on the bed, trying her best not to freak out. One thing was for sure, she was done crying and she'd moved into anger. "Get the hell out of here."

"No." He shrugged, all ready to pick up that fighting spirit he'd been in a minute or two before. "We're going to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you." She got up and walked to the door, he stopped her. "Let's not do this again." He blocked her again. "Do you remember what happened the last time you stood in my way?"

"You left me standing there with a bloody nose and a shattered heart." He said plainly, something in his eyes told her she was pushing dangerously close to an edge. But she couldn't help it.

"It wasn't your heart I broke, it was your pride." She threw her words out to sting, because something in her own heart stung.

Next thing she knew she was being forcefully grabbed, Ron was all she could see, and all her anger was replaced with both fear and primal excitement. His grip on her was hard and painful but she didn't care. "I was in love with you." His voice growled, his eyes searched hers. "I still am."

"I..." But his lips were already on hers, demanding response, demanding the pent up passion inside her. And when his hands buried themselves in her hair, the last of of her resistance snapped. His mouth moved to assault her neck and she felt the wall against her back. She gasped for breath, her fingers worked at the buttons on his shirt. "...am such an idiot."

He smiled against her neck, moved back up to her mouth. His own hands worked their way under her shirt, tracing her skin and making her tremble. "Of course you are."

Then his hands got dangerously close to her belly and she had to push him away. "We can't do this."

"We already have." He reminded her with a smirk that promised all of the things they'd been working up to.

"And I don't regret it because I love you." She walked away from him, put space between them so that her head could clear and she could tell him. "But we can't just have rough make-up sex against the wall, Ron. Well, you could but I can't."

"Woman, you confuse me." He grinned cheekily at her, tried to take her into his arms but she stepped away. "And I think you confuse yourself."

"Not about this. Sit down, Ron." He did as she asked. She held her hands up. "You don't notice anything different?"

He looked at her carefully. "You've gained a little weight." He shrugged.

"Just like a man." She rolled her eyes and lifted her top so that he could see the roundness, the odd shape of the belly she'd been hiding beneath the loose material. He stared at it without words and when he looked into her eyes there was a kind of awe there. She smiled. "I'm pregnant, Ron, it's yours."

He pulled her to him, kissed her as she fell onto the bed next to him. She was crying, so was he. She laughed when he broke the kiss, buried her head against his shoulder.

"We're having a baby." His grin was bright and genuine. "We're gonna be a family."

She smiled, touched his cheek as something in her heart shifted and made even more room for him. "That is the best thing you've ever said to me."

"It is?" He asked and she nodded. He kissed her tenderly, moved so that she was laying under him. "I have a million more to tell you." He rested a hand on her stomach, kissed her again. "You're never going to doubt for a moment what I feel about you."

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**A/N: What would you guys think of a David and Mel story??? If nobody reviews, I might not waste my time writing what isn't going to be read. Fair warning.**


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